KELSEY PHARIS

Looking through the top trending hashtags and stories on Twitter and Tumblr it has become abundantly clear that the majority of people on social media are more concerned with what the hottest celebrity is doing rather than actual news.

Although I too fall into the group of people who care a little too much about celebrity news, I also know I am up to date in the latest world and local news.

Now I am not saying that all teens are completely oblivious to the news, but it seems like all their sources are from different social media. Although some good news comes from these platforms, most of it is usually not factual nor does it inform people of what is truly important.

Both Twitter and Tumblr have pages people can follow to get more news, but so does any celebrity who is remotely famous. To put it in perspective, CNN has 19.4 million followers Twitter and Kim Kardashian 35 million followers.

Although I do not follow Kim Kardashian I am pretty sure she is not tweeting about the current crisis in Syria or the upcoming presidential election. However, she is voicing her opinion on gun control which sparked a stream of tweets to follow either agreeing to her ideas of gun control or  saying she needs to “stick to makeup.”

I still believe that social media is making it so that younger generations are not as educated about the outside world. Less teens are spending time watching the news and more time on social media where they are gaining little to no knowledge.

Trying to hold a conversation with students in my school about what they believe the European Union should do with the current stream of thousands of refugees coming in is almost painful. Although many of them have a vague idea of what is going on, they cannot explain what countries are allowing refugees and why they are fleeing to Europe instead of other countries in the Middle East.

However, if I asked them what they thought about Kanye’s speech and announcing her 2020 presidential run I could get a five minute dissertation about the speech. Or if I asked them what they thought about Nicki Minaj calling out Miley Cyrus during the MTV Video Music Awards many would have an opinion and facts to back up their claim.

It is my belief Snapchat noticed this downward trend and decided to help with the change. With one of their most recent updates they added news organizations that are accessible to everyone everyday to read about more news regarding celebrities and world news.  

Although this is a small step in the right direction, it is nowhere near the progress we need to have a well educated society who is able to live in a world that does not revolve around celebrities.